To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center, and for other purposes.
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Committee
Latest Action · December 17, 2024
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
This bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center to help protect hospitals and healthcare facilities from cyberattacks, which have increased dramatically in recent years. The bill also creates a grant program with $100 million authorized for fiscal years 2022-2023 to help smaller hospitals with fewer than 300 beds and rural health clinics purchase cybersecurity equipment, software, and hire IT staff. Additionally, the legislation requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop cybersecurity standards for medical devices and hospital networks within one year, with Medicare and Medicaid hospitals required to comply within two years. The bill includes a liability protection for larger hospitals that provide cybersecurity assistance to smaller facilities, shielding them from lawsuits unless gross negligence or willful misconduct can be proven. Congress found that ransomware attacks on hospitals more than doubled between 2019 and 2020, and over 29 million health records were exposed in breaches affecting more than 630 healthcare organizations in 2020.
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